Chapter 39: The Meaning of Ordering One’s House (2)

There was no struggle.

It was because Baek Yeo-hae and Dancheon Hak did not ask why I knelt with them, and I also did not explain the reason.

Just naturally, as if by agreement, the three of us knelt in the same posture in front of the Clan Head’s quarters and pleaded.

“Please forgive me!”

“Please forgive me!”

Baek Yeo-hae, Dancheon Hak, and I.

Without paying attention to each other, we begged for atonement in front of the Clan Head’s quarters.

Was it because of me and Dancheon Hak?

Dozens of retainers, who had only been watching until now, rushed to take their places behind Baek Yeo-hae.

Then, with a unified movement as if containing strict military discipline, they prostrated themselves.

“Please forgive me!”

It was a magnificent sight.

So many people prostrating themselves for the petition of one person meant that the virtue accumulated by the clan's matriarch, Baek Yeo-hae, was not small.

“Please forgive me!”

After doing so for a long time.

“Enough.”

A change finally occurred; Dancheon Gang had taken his heavy steps out of the Clan Head’s quarters.

Dancheon Gang's heavy appearance took in all of us.

His gaze, which lightly passed over Baek Yeo-hae, turned towards me and Dancheon Hak.

“What are you asking forgiveness for?”

“…….”

As if by agreement, Dancheon Hak and I kept our mouths shut and did not answer.

“Did you ask for forgiveness when you have done nothing wrong?”

“Clan Head……”

Stopping Baek Yeo-hae, who was about to step forward, Dancheon Hak stepped forward.

“Father.”

“Speak.”

I think it was the first time in my life I had seen such a tense expression on Dancheon Hak.

After swallowing hard, Dancheon Hak continued.

“Mother joined hands with the First Elder all for my sake. If there is a sin, the cause lies with me, so please forgive Mother and punish me.”

Saying so, Dancheon Hak prostrated himself.

“No! It’s not true, Clan Head! I am the sinner! Hak is innocent!”

Lest any harm come to Dancheon Hak, Baek Yeo-hae quickly pushed past Dancheon Hak and prostrated herself before him.

“Hak is innocent. It is all my fault!”

As if in a shriek, Baek Yeo-hae's voice did not stop even as she was prostrated.

“…….”

To state my honest feelings after watching all that behavior right next to them, it would be appropriate to say that I was a little envious of such a mother and son.

Clan Head Dancheon Gang's gaze turned to me.

“Why are you there?”

In truth, I don't know either.

But still, I had not taken a seat here without any plan.

I recited what I had in mind.

“To propose a deal.”

As my mouth opened, I felt all the retainers, including the Clan Head, looking at me as if I were a madman.

Even Dancheon Hak and Baek Yeo-hae.

* * *

As the one who was begging for forgiveness spoke of a deal, an undisguised interest arose on Clan Head Dancheon Gang's face.

“Did you say a deal?”

As if answering his question, I gave a slight nod and continued.

“It was I who discovered that the First Elder was a spy of the Demonic Cult.”

This was an undeniable fact.

“It was also I who contributed the most to eliminating the spy of the Demonic Cult.”

Although Uncle Yeo Baek had cut his throat, no one could deny that my contribution was the greatest.

Of course, listing these facts now was not to show off.

“By my judgment, Mother is not a spy.”

Since Baek Yeo-hae was a person who died along with the fall of the Dancheon Clan, I know for certain that she was not a spy of the Demonic Cult.

But Dancheon Gang shook his head.

“It is not such a simple matter.”

How could I not know that fact?

“That is why it is a deal.”

I met Dancheon Gang's eyes without being intimidated by his authority.

“Having made a great contribution to the clan, I will ask of the Clan Head. Please pardon Mother's sin.”

“You would cover a fault with a merit?”

“That is correct.”

Was my proposal unexpected?

Dancheon Gang's cold expression wavered slightly.

“Do you understand the meaning of what you have just said?”

“I understand it fully.”

If the sin is pardoned, my merit will also disappear.

It means to offset them.

To interpret it differently, it meant I was sacrificing myself for Baek Yeo-hae, and it could also be said that I was throwing away a golden opportunity to get one step ahead in the succession competition for her.

There was no one in the clan who didn't know the relationship between the woman Baek Yeo-hae and me, so what was etched on everyone's faces was bewilderment and question.

A brief moment of silence.

Soon, the answer came.

“……So be it.”

The expression of Dancheon Gang who declared so was truly strange.

Although I prided myself on having a better eye than anyone, I couldn't tell whether the emotion in Dancheon Gang's gaze now was pride or disappointment.

“I will not bring up this matter again. All retainers shall know this.”

Saying so, Dancheon Gang disappeared into the Clan Head’s quarters without looking back.

Since he, who held absolute authority, had declared it, everything was over.

Baek Yeo-hae's sin had been pardoned.

Baek Yeo-hae approached me.

I didn't know whether her staggering steps were due to exhaustion or awkwardness.

When our eyes met, what was contained in her pupils was confusion.

It was likely because she couldn't understand my behavior at all.

I understand her.

Since even I can't accurately understand myself, how could she, another person, understand me?

Many words were born and died within her.

I could tell just by looking at her expression.

And finally…….

After dying away and dying away again, one remaining word flowed out of her mouth.

“……For now, I'll say thank you.”

It was a very Baek Yeo-hae-like thing to say.

But hearing those words made me laugh.

I don't know my own heart either, but it just happened naturally.

“Yes.”

When I lifted my head, the sky was clear.

In any case, the dark clouds had lifted from the future of the Dancheon Clan, and peace had arrived.

For now, this was enough.

* * *

Looking back, it was like this.

The first goal I set after regressing was to win the Young Clan Head competition.

It was a desire to change the direction of that stream, which had been the biggest turning point in my life before regression.

Although I had no great complaints about my life as Myeong-gae, I wanted to try living a different life.

I wanted to seize those things that might have been given to me.

Although I had grand goals like becoming the Murim Alliance Lord and preventing the Great War of Righteousness and Evil, or achieving the great completion of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art and becoming the strongest under the heavens, I cannot deny that my first goal was to win the Young Clan Head competition.

Thinking about the reason, it was like this.

If my elder brother Dancheon Hak became the Young Clan Head, and in the future, the Clan Head, I couldn't shake the thought that he would become a stumbling block in my path to becoming the Murim Alliance Lord and preventing the Great War of Righteousness and Evil.

But I know that Dancheon Hak has changed a lot.

No, perhaps Dancheon Hak was always like that, but in the past, I just didn't know what kind of person he was.

In any case, the fact that the Dancheon Hak I thought of at the time of regression and the Dancheon Hak I perceive now are different people is an undeniable truth.

If a future where Dancheon Hak becomes the Young Clan Head comes again, will he be a stumbling block in my life?

Honestly, I would now answer that I don't know.

To be a little more honest, I could also say that I think the probability of him not being one is higher.

It is because I have come to know that Dancheon Hak is a person who has his own sense of justice and a dignity befitting a successor of a prestigious clan.

If I were to deliberately find another reason for wanting to become the Young Clan Head.

I would say it was also a desire to save the Dancheon Clan from the dark clouds of ruin that would come in ten years.

In reality, this is the reason my heart has become complicated now.

If the Great War of Righteousness and Evil were to break out, not many clans would remain intact amidst the flames of war, but I will stop that Great War.

I will make it as if it never happened.

One Thousand Kills, who would have led the clan's annihilation, has also been eliminated long ago, so it is right to judge that the dark clouds that had hung over the Dancheon Clan have been completely lifted.

In that case.

Now that I have regressed, why must I become the Young Clan Head?

No, before that…….

Do I truly want to become the Young Clan Head of the Dancheon Clan?

It would be a lie if I said I had no desire to become the Young Clan Head.

The Healing Sage had said.

That if one achieves the Fourth Stage: Amplification of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art, this is what it means to order one's house.

Therefore, I had thought.

That since I had achieved the ordering of my house in the realm of my own self through the Fourth Stage: Amplification.

If I used this realm as a stepping stone to seize the position of Young Clan Head, I would truly complete the ordering of my house.

Although I knew that the ordering of the house the Healing Sage spoke of never meant the position of Young Clan Head, I know that my heart had interpreted it that way.

That's right.

I must admit it.

I simply wanted to resolve the deficiency of my previous life.

I cannot deny the fact that I tried to fill the deficiencies of the past through regression, rather than moving forward.

But at the same time, there is something I realized after entering the State of Harmony and expanding my Spirit.

If I were to take the position of Young Clan Head with the realm I have now achieved, would I be able to fill the deficiency I couldn't fill in the past?

“…….”

It would not be so.

My heart told me so.

Perhaps it was what the blossomed Spirit upon reaching the State of Harmony had told me.

It would be necessary to return everything to a blank slate.

I would have to return to the heart of Myeong-gae, who had resolved to become the Murim Alliance Lord, not the young Dancheon Myeong who sought to resolve his deficiency.

I looked at my current situation from the perspective of Myeong-gae, who had experienced much and boasted of a better insight and eye than anyone else.

Becoming the Young Clan Head.

And not becoming one.

Which would be more beneficial to my grand plan?

The time had come to weigh the true gains and losses.

Recalling the life of Myeong-gae, the answer came out more easily than I thought.

“I will withdraw from the Young Clan Head competition.”

“What?”

“I have no intention of becoming the Clan Head of the Dancheon Clan.”

My sudden visit to the Clan Head’s quarters was based on such a thought process.

* * *

Currently, although I have not reached great completion, I have learned the Dancheon Sword Art, a clan martial art, up to the latter half, and have entered the Fourth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.

In terms of the standards of the Jianghu Murim, I would be placed somewhere between the entry and skilled stages of the State of Harmony.

Although it would be a realm not unworthy of the word supreme to achieve in one's early twenties, looking at the entire Jianghu Murim, it is not so.

From the perspective of one who has memorized the entire Thousand Immortals of the Jianghu, it can only be described as a still immature realm.

The number of known masters who are superior to me is in the hundreds.

If you include the eccentric masters, reclusive masters, mysterious sects, and the hidden masters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, it is a realm where it is difficult to even set foot on the list of the Thousand Immortals.

Excluding background or growth potential and measuring only current martial power, that is how it is.

The Jianghu Murim is such a vast world.

The Dancheon Clan is a fine clan, so the position of Clan Head is certainly a fine position.

But at the same time, I also know the fact that the position of Clan Head does not guarantee my martial arts.

And I also know the fact that the way to reach the strongest under the heavens is not to become the Young Clan Head of the Dancheon Clan, and in the future, the Clan Head, but ‘in achieving the great completion of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.’

There is the Fifth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.

It is the realm that the Healing Sage achieved, and the realm where he competed with the strongest under the heavens of his time.

However, based on the information I have collected, I don't think it will be easy to compete for the strongest under the heavens with the Fifth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art in the current Jianghu Murim.

It is because it is only natural that the martial arts of the Jianghu people also develop with time.

I don't know if I could secure a spot at the bottom of the Ten Great Masters of the Heavens, but I think the strongest under the heavens is out of the question.

My judgment is that it is difficult to become the Murim Alliance Lord and stop the Great War of Righteousness and Evil with just that.

Therefore, I will have to achieve the Sixth Stage of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art.

I will set foot in an unprecedented realm that even the Healing Sage could not reach and seize the name of the strongest under the heavens.

Having already arranged all the plans, I had designed a path to reach the Fifth and Sixth Stages of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art after ascending to the position of Young Clan Head.

But judging coldly, it is like this.

I cannot deny the fact that the status of a free second son of the clan is more advantageous in reaching the great completion of the Healing Sage’s Mind Cultivation Art than a Young Clan Head tied to the clan.

It is because in order to achieve the Fifth and Sixth Stages, it is essential to travel the world.

I entrust the clan to someone I can trust, and I achieve the Sixth Stage and become the strongest under the heavens.

With that power, I will make the clan the strongest clan under the heavens and become the Murim Alliance Lord.

With that power, I will stop the Great War of Righteousness and Evil.

Isn't that a truly rational plan?

Therefore, my voice, boldly declaring in the Clan Head’s quarters, was unhindered.

“I will withdraw from the Young Clan Head competition.”

“What?”

“I have no intention of becoming the Clan Head of the Dancheon Clan.”

I said it as if declaring it to Dancheon Gang.

It was both relieving and regrettable.

If I had to choose, I think the relieving side was a little bigger, so I think it was a choice without regrets.

A moment later, Clan Head Dancheon Gang opened his mouth.

“Impossible.”

For the first time, I felt pleased about something that did not go according to plan.

It was because for the first time, I felt that my existence had been acknowledged by the Clan Head.